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NY Times covers 2009 D party Primary for Mayor
In Pittsburgh, Primary Tests Young Mayor’s Hold on Power : Don Wright / Associated Press Published: May 17, 2009. : appeared in print on May 18, 2009, on page A12 of the New York Times, NY edition. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl of Pittsburgh, debated his Democratic challengers, Carmen Robinson, a former police sergeant, and City Councilman Patrick Dowd. The D party primary, Tuesday, May 19, 2009. PITTSBURGH — When Luke Ravenstahl became the youngest mayor of a major American city in 2006 after his predecessor’s death in office, serious potential rivals sat on the sideline, biding their time. The thinking then was that maybe the 26-year-old mayor, prematurely thrust into the spotlight, would slip up and prove to be so unprepared that the Democratic Party, which has run this city for 75 years, would abandon him. It has not happened. “The danger in that strategy in giving him time to mess up is that if you wait too long, you let him build up a lot of power, build up a war chest,” said John McCarthy, assistant professor of urban history at Robert Morris University, in Moon Township, a suburb of the city. “And what’s happened now is he’s gotten stronger.” Mr. Ravenstahl has slipped up — at one point using a city S.U.V. paid for with Department of Homeland Security money to take his wife to a Toby Keith concert, among other gaffes — but none of the moves have appeared politically fatal. And on Tuesday, May 19, 2009, Mr. Ravenstahl, now all of 29, faces Pittsburgh voters for the third time in a little over two years, this time in a Democratic mayoral primary that, if he wins, could firmly entrench him in City Hall, as least until he decides to try for higher office. “Luke Ravenstahl has too much money and too many supporters in the traditional Democratic Party here for any of these challengers,” said Mike Madison, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh whose blog, Pittsblog, keeps watch over the city’s politics and culture. Even so, the primary race has been spirited, with City Councilman Patrick Dowd, 41, and Carmen Robinson, 40, a political newcomer and local lawyer, stirring the debate. Most of that has come from Mr. Dowd, a former high school history teacher, who has attacked Mr. Ravenstahl at every turn, accusing him of missteps as minor as buying lavish trash cans and of more serious charges of lacking vision and even overseeing a corrupt administration. “The hallmark of his administration has been an erosion of confidence and the pay-to-play politics,” said Mr. Dowd, who has promised a more transparent government focused on job creation. Ms. Robinson, a former Pittsburgh police sergeant and one of the few black mayoral candidates in the city’s history, said she was bothered more by the lack of help for some of Pittsburgh’s struggling neighborhoods and by soaring overtime costs for police officers and firefighters. Mr. Ravenstahl argued that his administration has worked in neighborhoods, is cutting back on overtime and does not engage in pay-to-play politics. The accusations of corruption “hurts Pittsburgh,” said Mr. Ravenstahl, who has focused most of his attention on Mr. Dowd’s attacks. “It doesn’t help what we’re trying to achieve,” the mayor said. “It doesn’t help grow this city, this continual negative drumbeat. Let’s debate the issues. We have not done that.” After succeeding Mayor Bob O’Connor, who died of a brain tumor in 2006, then winning the primary and general elections the following year to complete Mr. O’Connor’s term, Mr. Raventsahl was criticized for, among other things, flying to New York on a trip paid for by Ron Burkle, a longtime Democratic fund-raiser, and going to Boston instead of attending a community meeting on the design of a new casino. But he has overcome those early lapses in judgment and now enjoys an overwhelming advantage in fund-raising, with more than $1 million to spend on his campaign — compared with Mr. Dowd’s more than $100,000 and Ms. Robinson’s $27,000. With no Republican running and only little-known independents entered in the Nov. 3 general election, winning the primary would put Mr. Ravenstahl in good position to secure his first full four-year term as mayor. “For him to go on to higher office, he’ll really have to show some performance,” said Mark DeSantis, a Republican who ran against Mr. Ravenstahl in 2007 and was lauded for getting 35 percent of the vote in a city where registered Democrats have a 5-to-1 advantage. No Pittsburgh mayor since David Lawrence, who left office to become governor in 1959, has gone on to a higher elected office. “Pittsburgh has been in a long decline since 1960,” Mr. DeSantis said, adding that it was hard to argue for higher office if your city was still losing population and jobs. But even if Mr. Ravenstahl can stem the population loss, get the city’s finances out from under state control, as they have been since 2003, and resolve its huge debt and pension problems, he will still have to contend with perception issues. “I think Ravenstahl still comes across as a local kid from the North Side who thinks of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh alone,” Dr. McCarthy said. “The percentage of stupid incidents seems to have gone down, but until he doesn’t seem to be just concerned about Pittsburgh, his stock won’t go up outside of the city.” For his part, Mr. Ravenstahl said he had no immediate plans to be anything other than mayor. “It may sound like a cliché, but if I’m ever going to look to do something in my future, we’re going to have to prove that we did good things in Pittsburgh,” he said. “And if I do the job well, then who knows what the future holds?” category:news coverage